Recap Angel: Season 3, Episode 11 - Birthday

During Cordelia's 21st birthday celebration at the Hyperion Hotel, Cordelia experiences a vision so painful that she is rendered unconscious. Fred and Gunn find Cordelia's prescription pain pills and the results of a CAT scan that reveals severe brain damage - Cordelia is dying. When Cordelia wakes, no one can see or hear her and she concludes that she has been knocked into an astral state. A friendly demon called Skip (the one that used to guard Billy) introduces himself as her guide, and says the visions which Doyle gave her were never intended for a human and that they are killing her. She has two options: go back in time and choose a different path, or return to her body and die when the next vision strikes. Skip tells Cordelia that if she hadn't reconnected with Angel at the party where she first ran into him, she would have instead become a famous actress - and she can choose to have that life instead.

Meanwhile, Angel goes to plead with The Powers That Be to remove Cordelia's visions. Skip brings Cordelia's astral body along; when she overhears Angel call her "weak", she is hurt and decides to go back in time to become a famous actress. She is instantly transported to a luxurious life where she is a celebrity, an Emmy winner, and star of her own television show. However, she is haunted by the name of the Hyperion Hotel, and heads over there after the show wraps. She makes her way up to the room she recognizes as Angel's, which triggers her memory of the vision that knocked her unconscious earlier - a young girl in danger. She goes to the girl's house, Cynthia, who confesses she was trying to use magic. A demon materializes, and they try to defend themselves, until a one-armed Wesley and Gunn burst in to kill the demon. When Cordelia explains what has happened, they take her to see Angel, who - in this timeline - inherited Doyle's visions instead of Cordelia. The visions have driven Angel insane; horrified and saddened, Cordelia kisses him and takes the visions back.

Skip appears, reminding her of their deal. He argues it's the fate she chose and that "it ain't so easy to shake it off." Cordelia disagrees, saying she is too valuable to the Powers. They come to an agreement: since the visions are going to kill her as a human, Skip turns her into a half-demon, so that she can keep the visions and not die. When Cordelia wakes up, she has another vision - and to everyone's astonishment she experiences no pain. The demon aspect becomes clear when Angel points out that Cordelia is levitating.